Mozilla Foundation Fellows Program 2026 (Funding available) – YOA

Deadline: January 30, 2026

Nominations are open for the Mozilla Foundation Fellows Program 2026. For over a decade, Mozilla Fellows have been on the forefront of probably the most vital conversations about know-how and society, from debunking AI myths to exposing disinformation campaigns. They have supported over 200 changemaking Fellows who share their perception that a greater tech future shouldn’t be solely attainable – it’s ours to create. Whether embedded with civil society organizations or pursuing unbiased innovation, Fellows flip defiant optimism about know-how’s future into motion.

These changemaking technologists, researchers, creators, and advocates are the sorts of tech leaders a greater future calls for. When the media wants tech voices that aren’t billionaire CEOs, when communities want allies who perceive their wants, when the subsequent era wants position fashions who show know-how could be a pressure for good – Fellows are these individuals.

The 2026 Fellowship program will help as much as 10 visionary leaders who aren’t simply imagining higher know-how futures – they’re constructing them.

Focus Areas

Mozilla Fellows aren’t ready for permission or responding to crises—they’re creating the alternate options, proving new fashions work, and exhibiting what’s attainable when know-how serves individuals. They are looking for Fellows constructing higher on points like:

• Protecting User Privacy: Fellows engaged on this challenge will strengthen encryption and create instruments that put safety within the palms of those that want it most—via technical contributions, academic initiatives, coverage improvement, and group organizing.
• Auditing AI Systems: Fellows engaged on this challenge will make AI methods clear and accountable to the individuals they have an effect on—via technical auditing instruments, coverage frameworks, trade benchmarks, group advocacy, or academic approaches.
• Advancing Climate Justice: Fellows engaged on this challenge will cut back know-how’s environmental affect and strengthen communities organizing for local weather justice—via analysis, digital instruments, advocacy campaigns, or work that guides trade and policymakers towards systemic change.
• Protecting Creators: Fellows engaged on this challenge will guarantee creators management and profit from their work—via methods for consent, attribution, and compensation, or via inventive contributions like artwork, organizing, and advocacy that reshape norms and requirements.
• Democratizing Data: Fellows engaged on this challenge will put knowledge and AI improvement in group palms—via group-owned datasets, private AI methods, small language fashions, or organizing frameworks that serve individuals fairly than focus company energy.
• Building Open Infrastructure: Fellows engaged on this challenge will create web infrastructure that’s open and interoperable—via protocols, requirements, decentralized methods, academic assets, or advocacy that retains the web open and accessible to all.

Benefits

• Financial Backing: Funding to focus in your most vital work with out compromise
  • Track I: $100,000 whole funding together with a $75,000 stipend and a $25,000 undertaking price range
  • Track II: $125,000 whole funding together with a $100,000 stipend and a $25,000 undertaking price range
• A Global Network: Connection to an inspiring cohort of know-how leaders, policymakers, and advocates, plus ongoing entry to Mozilla Foundation’s broader group of alumni and companions
• Professional Development: Specialized teaching, workshops, and peer studying alternatives designed for know-how leaders constructing higher futures
• Platforms to Amplify Your Impact: Access to Mozilla’s world platforms like Mozilla Festival, Mozilla Education, and Nothing Personal to share your work and attain new audiences

Eligibility

• Open to candidates from all nations the place Mozilla can legally make grants, with explicit deal with recruiting Fellows from the Global Majority.
• All Fellows ought to have the ability to obtain stipend disbursements within the type of ACH or wire switch funds originating from the United States.
• All Fellows ought to be legally in a position to enter right into a grant settlement with Mozilla Foundation, a US-based mostly 501c3 group.
• Track I Embedded Fellows should be situated in Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, the MENA area, Mexico, UK, US, or the EU.
• All copyright, patent, and different proprietary pursuits in supplies produced by chosen Fellows in the midst of the fellowship shall be owned by the Fellow. To make sure the widest attainable distribution of such supplies and be certain that they continue to be usually out there to the general public, chosen Mozilla Fellows conform to launch code and non-confidential content material created through the fellowship below open licenses decided in session with Mozilla. Selected Fellows are anticipated to work within the open, recurrently sharing and documenting their work.

Commitment

Fellows decide to:

• Lead an Impactful Project: Create concrete demonstrations of what higher know-how futures seem like – instruments, platforms, inventive works, or improvements that others can construct upon
• Join a Global Cohort Actively take part within the Fellowship cohort, workshops and different choices, and the broader Mozilla group.
• Share Your Knowledge: Share your experience via talking, writing, and collaboration to encourage the subsequent era of tech leaders. Develop content material and assets via Mozilla Education and different platforms, contributing to the collective data that helps innovators worldwide construct higher know-how futures.

Review Criteria

They consider candidates throughout 5 key areas:

• Fit: Does your expertise match the observe you’re selecting? Are you prepared for this OPPORTUNITY?
• Project: Do you define a compelling undertaking that advances a greater tech future and you could realistically execute in 12 months? For Embedded Fellows, does your undertaking compellingly handle the Host Organization’s recognized challenge?
• Values: Does your strategy embody know-how “built with care, powered by people, and fueled by imagination”?
• Impact: Will your work serve communities and assist others construct higher know-how futures?
• Leadership: Are you somebody who will affect the sector and may encourage the subsequent era of know-how leaders?

Nomination

Click here to nominate

For extra info, go to Mozilla Foundation Fellows Program.